Quote of the Day
First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus
Revisiting the Akin Kerfuffle
I have to admit one of the surprises of the election was not that McCaskill won; the last few polls consistently showed her in the lead, but I thought Akin had a shot with a general tightening of the polls. Romney easily won the state, but the highly unpopular senator won going away by 15 points.
I didn't know what happened in the campaign after the kerfuffle it's hard for me to understand; the incidence of rape pregnancies is statistically insignificant. Moreover the Senate almost never votes on abortion matters. How in the world did a single politically incorrect gaffe trump McCaskill's atrocious voting, out of touchwith Missouri's voters?
If I hear one more clueless progressive ask about what Akins meant by "legitimate rape"....The Boston Globe notes "The wording of the GOP’s call for a “human life amendment” is no different from what the party approved in 2004 and 2008".Let's be clear: almost no Dem in Congress will support a human life amendment even with commonly accepted exceptions of rape, incest and life of the mother. Enough pro-abortion choice Democrats exist in either chamber of Congress block any human life amendment. So this has always been a phony issue.
So the whole interview with Akin was disingenuous from the get-go. Its sole purpose was to "prove" Akin was an "extremist". Now what was the 'legitimate rape' reference about? Pro-life forces have always been convinced that unethical doctors would use any exception as a loophole. So I believe that he was suggesting that just as in the time before Roe v. Wade (or say exceptions for ongoing state-regulated late-term abortions), some women would shop for an accommodating physician (e.g., unreported rapes).
I don't think that elaborating this obvious interpretation of "legitimate rape", i.e., that some women would lie about an alleged rape experience, would have helped Akin. There would have been a new politically incorrect dispute over the credibility of rape victims which would have prolonged the kerfuffle to McCaskill's political benefit. The bottom line is no male politician should discuss rape (other than to sympathize with victims, condemn the crime and/or reaffirm its vigilant prosecution), especially when his opponent is a woman.
As for the theory that women's bodies have some natural defense against impregnation as the result of traumatic incidents like rape, it is a dated one expressed in past centuries but, to the best of my knowledge, not consistent with existing data. (In fact, I believe that Akin acknowledged rape pregnancies happen but are rare; that is true, but Akin's unnecessary elaboration was an unforced error--it also begs the question: what do you do in those rare circumstances? Rape is a special problem: the vast majority of pregnancies occur under consensual circumstances, and one can argue that consensual partners share responsibility for the consequences of their actions (or inaction on preventive measures like sterilization or contraceptives).)
UBL Death Conspiracies
One of my blogroll entries (Daily Bell) I just noticed is floating the idea that UBL was not killed, that the whole thing was staged in an elite attempt to reelect Obama president (e.g., here). In short, this is based on things like few witnesses of UBL's burial at sea, redacted emails, confusing eyewitness testimony (saying the soldiers were not speaking English but the local dialect), etc.
I believe that shifting accounts of the incident, including whether UBL was reaching for a weapon, are suspicious, but I see these things as more indicative of an inept bureaucracy (Ockham's razor!) We know UBL's surviving family members and witnesses were at the scene A helicopter with secret technology was downed and left behind. The raid embarrassed the Pakistan government which saw the raid as a violation of its sovereignty. I think capturing UBL was never an option--an imprisoned UBL could have motivated attempts to force his release. Too many witnesses could have exposed service members or their families to reprisal attacks. Al Qaeda itself verified UBL's death.
I don't disagree that Obama's UBL operation and expanding on Bush's meddling and drone attacks in a volatile world region made it more difficult for Romney to posture himself as a military conservative. But to be honest, Romney held his base; Romney's loss had more to do with fighting an incumbent, noncompetitive ground game, and his campaign's failure to counter a predictable negative campaign. Actually Obama could have sat on the UBL mission until last month to maximize the political benefit.
Musical Interlude: Christmas Retrospective
Scrooge (Musical), "Happiness"
